Angel Dizon named senior associate vice president of facilities

Angel A. Dizon III has been appointed senior associate vice president of facilities at Northwestern University effective March 7, 2024, after a national search. Dizon succeeds Alex Darragh, who retired from Northwestern Facilities in November 2023.

Dizon has more than three decades of real estate, construction, operations and maintenance experience in both public and private sectors. As a senior executive in the federal government’s U.S. Department of State and General Services Administration, where he spent nearly 20 years, Dizon has led work in 300 cities globally, been responsible for portfolios valued at $100 billion and helmed innovative efforts focused on transforming large organizations.

“Angel’s energy and vision will no doubt take our hard-working Facilities team to new heights,” said Luke Figora, vice president and chief operating officer. “I am thrilled to welcome an industry leader who can both drive our facilities strategy while also ensuring we deliver on the day-to-day services that our community needs to learn, work, research and live on our campuses.”

Northwestern Facilities has primary responsibility for the University’s physical assets across Evanston and Chicago. This includes major construction projects as well as the maintenance, upkeep, renewal and replacement of laboratories, classrooms, offices, student residences and the grounds. Facilities also maintains the underlying utilities infrastructure servicing the campus community. As senior associate vice president, Dizon will provide strategy and leadership to the department’s staff of nearly 350 people. He will report to Figora.

“It is an incredible honor to join Northwestern and the Facilities team,” Dizon said. “This is a truly unique opportunity to work with a dedicated team to shape the future of the University’s campuses, meet the needs of a diverse community and continue to deliver world-class facilities.”

Dizon comes to Northwestern having served as the General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service Regional Commissioner for the Great Lakes region. There, he oversaw more than 1,000 owned and leased spaces that represented the U.S. government to the public and supported 50,000 federal employees. He emphasized spaces that had positive economic, environmental and social impacts in communities.

He’s also held multiple positions in the Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), ultimately becoming the bureau’s managing director. At OBO, Dizon was instrumental in the transformation of the bureau’s approach toward U.S. embassy design, which has been recognized by numerous architecture, engineering and construction industry awards.

Dizon earned an undergraduate degree in architecture from the University of Texas at Arlington. He lives in Chicago with his wife and stepson.

Northwestern Facilities oversees campus space planning, new capital project management, energy and sustainability planning, operations and maintenance and real estate activities. It is also responsible for construction and renovation projects. Facilities manages 240 acres of grounds in Evanston and 26 acres in downtown Chicago, comprising some 225 buildings and about 10 million gross square feet of laboratories, classrooms, offices and residences.